Neuropathic pain in arm three years after blood test

Brain and nerves
1

After a routine blood test, I was left badly bruised and in constant pain that has gone on for three years.   I have seen my GP who has confirmed my suspicion that I have a nerve injury.

 I was offered anti depressants at 10mg for the pain but I declined them because of the side effects, withdrawal symptoms and the length of time they take to work if they do at all.  

I am trying aloe vera gel and Voltarol gel which so far only numbs the pain briefly but I can still feel the pain which radiates up to my shoulder.  The injection site is sore to the touch even when the pain is in remission.  Nurofen does nothing at all.  Heat does work especially in Italy during the summer where I get no pain at all.  Damp and wet weather trigger the pain. 

Does anyone know what else I can try?

2

I have neuropathy in both of my feet and unfortunately I am in the same situation, all they wanted to give me were different anti depressants which made things worse. There are many different drugs that you could be given but due to the opioid problem many doctors are hesitant to give them out and the only reason they give out anti depressants is they get bonuses and kick backs from the drug companies. Do some research online starting with tramadol, marinol,glonidine, nabilone and diazepam and also neuropathic pain. This should be a good place to start, i have been dealing with it for almost 2 years

 

3

Hello pippa,

First, I am not a doctor or in any way considered a medical person.  I now and understand neuropathy style pain very well, being a type 1 diabetic for over 38 years and suffered with diabetic neuropathy in my feet for decades, which continued to get worse year after year.

My doctors put me on about 4 different meds, which nothing helped and most had major side effects.  The last one was Lyrica, just over about a year ago now.  Lyrica sent me on a sideways sie-effects nightmare from hell, so I immediately stopped it and began drining about 2 gallons of water per day and eating cracers to attempt to flush this garbage from my body.

Then my "big sis" told me to tae milk thistle (a natural suppliment you can get in any viatim section of almost any store.  Mil thistle is well nown to cleanse the liver and medically proven and used for many forms of problems, lie Hep C.  I began taking the milk thistle, then decided to check and found mil thistle was listed for diabetic neuropathy (kidneys) on the Mayo Clinic site.  I continued taking mil thistle 3 times per day, 175 mg dosage each time).  A miracle then happened for me after only about 6 days.  ALL neurpothy pain was GONE!  Please read my old post regarding this for the full story, but long story short, I have had NO neuropathy pain in about ONE YEAR now!  Even my doctors are now recommending it to their patients, including my pain management specialist, who's husband is now taing it an it is woring as well.  It has cure my mother's tingling in her feet (she is 78 and hers is do to simple aging) and another lady I told about, who's husband is type 2 diabetic, has also noticed a tremendous difference as well .. so it can work!  Even if it does not work in your specific situation, there is really no downside to it, because at the very least, it helps to eep a healthy liver and has no side effects (only exception is if you may have an allergy to it, because it is a weed extract.

It's certainly worth a try.

I hope this might help.

4

Hello kennyatw,

I just noticed your reply in this thread and seen you have neuropathy in your feet.  Please read my older posts regarding milk thistle.  It may be very helpful.  I am type 1 diabetic for over 38 years and doctors tried about 4 meds over the years on me, nothing worked.  

I have been totally pain free for about a year now directly due to the milk thistle.

It may really help.

5

I have tried milk thistle and have been taking it for the past 3 weeks but nothing is happening at all..

6

It is a nuisance to say the least.because the damage to my left arm is my second 

neuropathic injury.  

I fell on my right elbow over forty years ago and then had two further falls on the same bone both last year and this year. Apart from the nerve pain, I have had short circuits in the nerve which caused my hand to flop and lose power for a few minutes.  Luckily I managed to hastily put the glass I was holding back on the table in time!  

At least with my elbow, it was my clumsiness that was to blame.  However, in the case of the blood test injury, it was the fault of a health care assistant who didn't know what she was doing.  I find this extemely galling. 

7

What dosage are you taing?  175 mg 3-4 times per day (split throughout the day..morning, lunch, dinner, bedtime).  Also do you now the cause, lie diabeties?

Again, I can not guarantee it will work for everyone, but I o now it has now wored for many.  And I can still recommend still taking it daily simply due to the good liver tyeatment it provides.

Its just a thought and definite a much, much better thing than actual meds like Lyrica, which has tons of very bad side effects.

Hope it can help

8

Definitely worth a google.

9

Surprisingly you will not find much at all regarding mil thistle and neuropathy pain.  You will easily find it for the liver and things lie Hep-C treatment.  A male nurse I ran into has taen it for 15+ years for his Hep-C and it is well nown for specifically the liver.

But I have yet to find any doctor, nurse, pharmasist, etc. who has even heard of it for actual diabetic foot pain.  If you go to the Mayo Clinic website, it will list mill thistle for diabetic neuropathy (kidneys).  That is where I found the general reference, but paid little attention due to the specific (kidney) reference, which I thought meant specifically for the kidneys, which is a very common weak for diabetics (which luckily I have no problems there).

It was due to the Lyrica nightmare I even tried milk thistle, to clear my liver of the Lyrica as soon as possible.

But literally about 6 days in, I too my normal walks, which every time I would stop, walking anywhere, I would always get the "1,000 needles" in the bottoms of both feet and had that more than 2 decades and only getting worse.  I also had all the other forms of pain in my feet as well.  But I immediately noticed and thought "wait a minute..where's the needles!??"  

Over the next few day, ALL forms of the pain were completely gone and the only change in my entire regiment was the mil thistle.

I have continued using the milk thistle to this day and have been basically and totally pain free, with one exception.  Bac in July I wound up getting Shingles, which threw my entire body chemestry out of whack and did have a few very small episodes of the neuropathy pains bac in my feet ..a dn man did that hurt!  I could not believe I was living with all that pain for well over 2 decades and I was very afraid that the Shingles episode was going to change things where the milk thistle treatment was going to stop working as it has been,  But, than God, it went bac to no pain and I have been pain free for about a YEAR now!

Even my primary doctor and my pain management specialist are recommending their patients try this.  My pain management doctor's husban is and has been taking it since I mentioned it to her many months ago and she said he has noticed a big difference first hand as well.

So I tell everyone now, since basically no one even nows this possible and great benefit, because even the medical community does not now about it for this style pain.

Again, hope this helps.

10

500 mg capsules twice a day, no i don't have diabetes. I won't touch lyrica or cymbalta as they make things worse but some people swear by those nasty drugs..

11

I noticed there wasn't much on neuropathic pain regarding milk thistle. I suspect it is a possible remedy that doctors either know nothing about or are sceptical. Strangely enough I was at a function today and the hall was lovely and warm and it calmed my pain down.

12

Neuropathic pain is caused by damage or injury to the nerves that transfer information between the brain and spinal cord from the skin, muscles and other parts of the body.

The pain is usually described as a burning sensation and affected areas are often sensitive to the touch. Symptoms of neuropathic pain may also include excruciating pain, pins and needles, difficulty correctly sensing temperatures and numbness. 

13

I get most of the pains you describe but I rarely get burning sensations in my arm and I can still sense temperatures properly.  Heat really helps but cold aggravates it.

14

Neuropathic pain can also be caused by different drug side effects. Mine was caused from harvoni